2. AHSAA mess isn’t going away.

The controversy over the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s decision to rule Troy basketball player Maori Davenport ineligible is still heating up.

After the story caught fire, President of the AHSAA Central Board of Control Johnny Hardin issued a statement Monday saying the organization had no choice but to make the ruling it did.

Hardin stood in front of Executive Director Steve Saverese saying “his job is simply to apply the rules as written.”

Still, Saverese’s problem is turning from a public relations one into a political one.

The Alabama Legislature comes to town today and many of them are fired up about this ruling.

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh took what I believe is the first official action sending a letter to Savarese demanding that the investigation be reopened to consider new evidence and that Davenport be reinstated pending the outcome.

I’ve also heard from more than a few legislators that this episode is dusting up old grievances with AHSAA governance and leadership.

The Legislature is only in an organizational session this week so no laws will be made. But, this is one issue that could get a lot of attention ahead of the real session two months away.

A message from The Alliance for Alabama’s Infrastructure

The Alliance for Alabama’s Infrastructure welcomes members of the Alabama Legislature back to the Capital City for the 2019 Legislative Session.

Thank you for your commitment to serving Alabama and working on behalf of the people to solve problems.

As you know, one critical problem all Alabamians deal with daily is our crumbling roads and bridges. The Alliance looks forward to continuing a conversation about how smart investments in transportation infrastructure can protect and create jobs and increase Alabama’s economic competitiveness.

Did you know: The Federal Highway Administration has projected that every $500 million invested in transportation infrastructure supports 14,000 new jobs . This is just one of the many ways investing in Alabama’s roads and brides can help its economy grow.

Click HERE to learn more about the growing statewide effort to #FixALRoads.

3. House Rules changes coming.

Rules changes are coming to the Alabama House of Representatives.

Not like the “no talking” and “no chewing gum” kind. Actually, there are a few of those.

More generally, official Rules govern how the House operates as a legislative body.

One significant rule change will reduce the allowed debate time on a Special Order Calendar from two hours to around 20 minutes.

The Special Order Calendar is the slate of bills the House agrees to debate on a given legislative day. The Rules Committee decides the slate, taking direction and input from the Speaker, committee chairs and members of the body.

One way Democrats can slow down the flow of legislation if they aren’t happy is to filibuster the Special Order Calendar. That can take two hours off any given work day and potentially a lot more if the House needs to adopt more than one slate.

Obviously, Democrats aren’t happy with this rule change proposed by the House GOP.

4. Marshall asks FEC to investigate 2017 election.

Marshall had previously said he wanted to look into the reports himself, but after evaluating them he “has determined the matter to be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Federal Election Commission,” spokesman Mike Lewis said.

The Washington Post and New York Times first reported that a social media researcher acknowledged using misleading online tactics during Democratic Sen. Doug Jones’ 2017 campaign against Republican Roy Moore. The newspapers said operators posed as conservative voters on a Facebook page and that Twitter accounts were used to make it appear that Russian bots were following Moore.

Just this week, the Times reported another fakery attempt in which a Facebook group tried to use the issue of alcohol sales to turn off voters to Moore.

“Alabamians have a right to know if illegal activity occurred during the 2017 race for the U.S. Senate. The reports of what may have transpired are deeply troubling and appear to warrant a full investigation by the Commission,” Marshall wrote in a letter to the FEC.

For his part, Sen. Doug Jones has said he welcomes a full investigation and denounces any tactics that crossed legal lines.

Taxpayers who are owed refunds will be paid on time, despite the government shutdown that has closed many federal agencies, a Trump administration official said Monday as concern mounted over the risk that the payments could be delayed.

The acting director of the White House budget office, Russell Vought, said customary rules will be changed to make the payments possible. He told reporters that an “indefinite appropriation” was available for the refunds, which would go out as normal.

The IRS said late Monday that it will recall a large number of furloughed employees to process returns. They will probably work without pay. Under the previous rules, hundreds of billions of dollars in refunds could be delayed because funding would not be available.